We are continually changing in terms of what we expect the perfect workplace to be, so how are managers meant to ensure they understand this?

When you buy a new piece of equipment, it comes with a clear user manual that tells you how to operate, maintain and care for it. When you decide to employ a person however, he/she does not present you with their resume, and an instruction manual! It is your job to find out how to create and nurture the work environment that would make this person stay and deliver exactly what you hoped for. Where on earth are you meant to get that information from?

This is most likely where we still seem to get it wrong when it comes to motivation. For some unknown reason, we still believe that we have only the reward or punishment method to drive our staff. You will either get a nice reward for completing the job well or you are going to be punished for failing. Done … now the team should be well motivated to complete the task.

Now for the interesting part: – Ask a Manager what he/she should do more of with their team , and they answer, wait for it ……….

• Recognise what they do
• Communicate better

They have just nailed two of the things that will improve motivation, yet, when it comes to motivation they still think it is only going to work if you ‘dangle the money carrot’ The reality is that this will not work! Money can certainly de-motivate a person (if you do not pay a fair rate for the position), but will never be a long term motivator.

Now let’s go back to the start:

How are you supposed to know what your team expects from you as their manager?

Talk to them!

Ask questions, find out what drives them, what makes them happy, what really motivates them, what tasks do they believe they are really good at and where do they struggle. Every person is different and will have different expectations. If you get to know your team well, you are on track to getting the myth busted … people can be at work and enjoy what they are doing!

There are some key expectations your team will want:

• Recognition
• Sense of Belonging
• Communication
• Autonomy (don’t be constantly over their shoulder watching whether they are working)
• Advancement (Career Path)
• Approachability (They should never be too scared to talk to you when they have a problem or even a new idea)

Take the time to write your own ‘manual’ when it comes to your team. Create the environment and work WITH them. You have just taken the first steps of being a LEADER instead of just a Manager.